General David Hurley, Governor of NSW, spent more than 40 years in the military but he had never visited Newcastle’s Fort Scratchley until Tuesday.
Hurley had been on a tour of the Hunter in recent days and decided to visit the city’s former defence installation before an evening engagement.
A previous chat with one of Fort Sratchley’s officials had put the visit on the Governor’s agenda.
“It’s a great old place, it’s well worth people to come in and have a look at,” Mr Hurley said.
“You can see there is a lot of love and care that goes into the place to maintain it and keep a lot of the traditions here. This fort goes back to the 1790s, so its very much a part of Australia’s colonial history.”
About 20 of the historic site’s volunteers were on hand for the Governor’s visit, which involved a tour of part of the tunnel complex, museum inspection and firing of the No. 2 Mark V11 Gun.
